Hundreds come to see camel collection in Benicia

Dina Gault of Benicia gets a kiss from Keesa the camel during the opening of the Camelot exhibit at the Benicia Historical Museum. It was the first time Gault had ever touched a camel.(Chris Riley/Times-Herald)

BENICIA -- Brad Dake said he's impressed with his mother's camels' new home on Sunday.

Dake was a speaker at the opening of a new exhibition at the Benicia Historical Museum, Camelot! The Philly Dake Camel Collection.

Hundreds of camels were displayed in glass cases at the museum, also known as the Camel Barns. They will be available for viewing through August.

The event was attended by hundreds of people from all over the area. And, to the delight of visitors "Camelot" even included a live camel.

"It's a wonderful learning experience," Anna Rojas of Pleasant Hill said. The exhibition also included facts about camels, and the history of camels when they were brought to the United States to be used as pack animals in place of horses during the Civil War.

Phillys "Philly" Dake who died last year at 85, willed her collection of camel-related items to the museum. Of the nearly 4,000 items, 800 now call Benicia home, and about 300 are part of the exhibition.

"The museum is the perfect place for my mother's collection," said Brad Dake, who flew from New York to attend the event.

Philly Dake was a New York philanthropist and the widow of a former co-owner convenience store chain on the East Coast.

Brad Dake said he grew up with the collection when his mother started the hobby in 1953. The collection was kept at the Dake's home in Saratoga Springs, New York. The home's name was Camelot, the namesake of the Benicia museum exhibition.

"It was a lot of explaining to do to my friends, and guests," he said lightheartedly.

He said his clearest memory was cleaning every single item of the collection every year to get the house ready for guests who would visit for the annual summer horse races.

"(The cleaning) became an annual event for us," Brad Dake said.

The collection started by Philly Dake's father-in-law who acquired a set of ivory and camel-bone camels.

Once friends and family learned of Philly Dake's collection, it quickly grew, Brad Dake said.

"She would receive 20 to 25 camels each Christmas," he said.

The Sunday event also featured a live 900-pound camel, Keesa, brought by the Lyons Ranch in Sonoma, and a puppet show by Benician puppeteers, using camel puppets from the collection.

Even though Brad Dake was surrounded by camels all his life, Sunday was his first time he saw a live one.

"I don't even know why," Dake said. "When I heard that there will be a live camel, that put it over the top. I had to come (to the event)."

Museum Executive Director Elizabeth d'Huart said even though she wished more people had turned up for the event, she was happy to see many young faces in the crowd.

After working on the exhibition for months now, d'Huart realized something, she said.

"I'm a big fan of camels now," she said. "They are really cool and smart animals."

For more information, call 745-5435 or visit www.beniciahistoricalmuseum.org. The museum is at 2060 Camel Road.